Mike Klan
UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – LeTrey McCollum wasted no time making history on Sunday, hitting a lead-off single to reach base safely in a 46th consecutive game, the longest on-base streak in UC Santa Barbara Baseball history. It was a sign of things to come for the Gauchos (34-16), who brought McCollum home before making an out and went on to rout LMU (24-27) in seven innings, 17-5. Santa Barbara’s offense scored in all six innings they came to the plate, with Nate Vargas collecting five RBIs and Rowan Kelly four more, both career highs. It was a staff day on the mound for the Gauchos, with Hudson Barrett opening things up and collecting his first win of the season. Raymond Olivas, Calvin Proskey and Reed Moring also featured.
HOW IT HAPPENEDBarrett allowed just two baserunners in his outing, with one of them being wiped out thanks to Vargas behind the plate. After hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch that allowed the runner to take second, Barrett’s backstop got the better of the steal-happy Lions. Vargas caught the runner trying to steal third, then Barrett issued his first strikeout of the day to end the inning.
In the bottom of the first, Vargas got his battery-mate some runs to work with as well. The Gauchos started their day at the plate with five straight singles, with Vargas’ being the fourth in a row and — coming with bases loaded — scoring the first two runs of the game. Jonathan Mendez’s single tacked on another run to put the home side up, 3-0, after one.
Barrett collected two more strikeouts to put up another zero in the top of the second, and the offense tacked on another run in the bottom half. After Corey Nunez’s double and Liam Barrett’s single put Gauchos on the corner, McCollum plated Nunez with an RBI groundout. Hudson Barrett retired the first two Lions he faced in the top of the third to finish his one trip through the LMU order; Olivas relieved him and finished off the perfect inning.
The Gauchos got a hand from the Santa Barbara weather to score in the bottom of the third, with Mendez leading off with a double that landed mere feet behind the first base bag, as two LMU fielders lost the ball in the sun. A wild pitch got Mendez to third, then Kelly’s RBI groundout brought him home to make it 5-0. The Gauchos continued to grow their lead in the fourth, with a McCollum single and four-pitch walks to both Jack Holman and Isaac Kim loading the bases for Vargas. He walked as well to force home a run, then Kelly plated the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly, making it 7-0.
A three-run homer got LMU on the board and cut the Santa Barbara lead to just four in the top of the fifth, ending Olivas’ day. Proskey came out of the bullpen and prevented the Lions from scoring any more runs, striking out a pair in the inning. The Gaucho offense then got those three runs back in the bottom of the fifth, capitalizing on LMU mistakes to do so. Liam Barrett reached on an error with one out, then a walk, wild pitch and hit batter loaded the bases for Kim. The Gaucho DH cracked a double down the right field line to score two runs, then Vargas picked up yet another RBI with a sacrifice fly, making it 10-3 Santa Barbara.
Proskey worked around a lead-off double to keep LMU off the board in the top of the sixth, then the Gauchos brought the run rule into play with a six-run bottom of the sixth. Barrett led off with a single but was nearly thrown out at second when McCollum’s high fly ball dropped in front of the right fielder; a bad throw to second kept Barrett on the basepaths. Kim’s one-out single loaded the bases, then Vargas hit his second sacrifice fly in as many innings for Santa Barbara’s 12th run of the afternoon. Four straight walks then re-loaded the bases and forced home three more rusn, putting the Gauchos up, 15-3. Barrett capitalized on his second at-bat of the inning with another single, this time scoring two more runs to make it 17-3.
With Santa Barbara leading by over 10 runs, the top of the seventh essentially became the top of the ninth for the Lions, their last chance to get back within single digits and continue the game. They threatened to do just that, hitting a two-run home run, but Moring bounced back to finish the game. Despite LMU loading the bases with two outs, Moring got a flyout to center to end the game via the run rule.
BY THE NUMBERSThe Gaucho offense may have only come to bat in six innings on Sunday, but they scored in each of them, the first time that Santa Barbara has scored in every inning of a game since Feb. 23, 2008 against Marist. That game also only lasted seven innings due to darkness, with the Gauchos winning, 13-4.With 37 runs scored across the three games, this weekend is Santa Barbara’s highest-scoring series of the season, surpassing their 36-run output over three games against UC Riverside in April. The last time the Gauchos scored more than 37 runs in a three-game series was when they scored 38 against the Highlanders in 2024.With four- and five-RBI days respectively, Kelly and Vargas each set new career highs in RBIs while combining to plate over half of their team’s runs.Also on the list of career highs from Sunday is Liam Barrett’s three hits in the game; Kim matched his season high with three hits as well.All nine Gauchos came to the plate five times on Sunday; in three of Vargas’ five trips to the dish, the bases were loaded for him. He drove in runs all three times, with a two-run single, a walk and a sacrifice fly.
UP NEXTSanta Barbara returns to Big West play for the final three games of the regular season, hosting Cal State Bakersfield, May 15-17 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Gauchos need to win two of the three games to earn a spot at The Big West Championship in Fullerton. First pitch times are set for 4:35 p.m. Thursday and Friday, with Senior Day at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday.
(Article courtesy UCSB Athletics).
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A photo of the Platte Avenue and Murray Boulevard intersection was taken Sunday morning, less than half an hour after the crash. 
